Automatic folding chair



J. W. HARDY.

AUTOMATIC FOLDING CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 12. 1918.

1,330, 185. Patented Feb. 10,1920

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JAMES W. HARDY, OF NEWTON, KANSAS.

AUTOMATIC FOLDING CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 10, 1920.

Application filed January 12, 1918. Serial No. 211,575. 7

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMns W. HARDY, a citizenof the United States,residing at Newton, in the county of Harvey and State of Kansas, haveinvented certain new and use ful Improvements in Automatic FoldingChairs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the'art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic folding chairs whichwill automatically close when unoccupied thereby occupying less floorspace.

Another object of this invention is to provide a chair whichautomatically closes when the occupant rises thus giving greater floorspace between the rows of chairs and avoiding confusion when going to orcoming from the respective chair.

'With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fullydescribed and set forth in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved foldingchair as made in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the chair in closed position.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in the figuresof the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 5' indicates the chair in itsentirety and it comprises in its construction a plurality of supportingstandards 6. The supporting standards 6 have vertical portions the lowerends of which are bent angularly to provide the attaching feet 7 whichfeet are each provided with an aperture through which is adapted toextend a suitable fastening means for rigidly securing the standards toa support designated A in the drawings. The supporting standards arearranged in pa1rs each pair having a front standard 9 and a 7 rearstandard 8. The upper ends of the vertical portions are twisted as at 10and are further extended in an upwardly and inwardly inclined directionto provide the sup porting members 10. The upper. ends of the supportingmembers 10 are overlapped and are pivotally connected together by thebolts 12 having secured thereto, suitable nuts 13. A horizontal vrod 14has: its I ends 1ournaled through each forward leg 9 of each pairintermediate the ends thereof and pro ects laterallybeyond the exteriorsides thereof.

A linklo has one end pivotally secured to the outer end of the rod 14 onthe exterior side of each forward leg 9. The free end of the link ispivotally secured to a bolt 16 extended transversely through the rearlegs of each pair on the interior thereof. The bolt 16 has secured onthe inner end and bearing against the link 15 a suitable nut 17 whichprevents the link from being accidentally displaced.

A seat 18 is provided with side depending flanges 19 which flanges arepivotally mounted on the bar 1 1 to position the seat between the pairsof standards 6. A back 20 has its lower end secured to the rear edge ofthe seat 18 by suit-able hinges 21 and by virtue of the weight of theback, the seat will normally rise to a vertical position when nopressure is placed thereon and thus automatically collapse the seat andback tomove them in the plane of the pairs of supporting standards. Theopposite side edges of the back 20 are provided intermediate their endswith laterally extending attaching ears 22 and an arm 23 at one endpivotally secured to each ear ZQ-as at 24:. The forward end of each arm23 is pivotally mounted on the bolts 12 which pivotally connect theupper ends of the standards 6 together. ward edge of each arm isprovided with a horizontally disposed flange 25 which constitutes a restand the forward end of this flange is curved downwardly to overlie theupperends of the supporting members 10 to limit the swinging movement ofthe seat and back in automatically closing. The curved portions 25 ofthe arm rests 25 constitute stops so as to engage the upper ends of thestandards or members to prevent the seat from swinging too far and outof the planes of the standards when unoccupied.

It will be seen that from the foregoing description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings that a seat of this character willautomatically close and thus position the seat and back in the plane ofthe pairs of standards 6 and provide a greater floor space when thechairs are not occupied and permit passage between the rows of seatswithout crowding the occupants of the occupied seats.

It will be understood that it will be only necessary to grasp theforward edge of the seat 18 and press the same downwardly to move theseat into a horizontal positionand raise the back upwardly in-theposition illus. trated in Fig. 1. r Having thus described my inventionwhat I claim is:

l. 'A folding seat comprising a plurality of standards arranged inpairs, a seat pivotally secured between the standards and to onestandard of each pair, a back. hingedly secured to the seat, armspivotally secured to the back and standards, means carried by the armsfor limiting the closing movement of the seat, and means carried by theseat for limiting the opening movement thereof.

2. A folding chair comprising pairs of standards, links connecting thestandards in pairs, attaching means carried by the stand ards, a seatpivotally secured to one standard of each pair, a back hinged to theseat, arms JAMES W. HARDY Witnesses:

W. W. REGIER, J. G. REGIER.

